When I decided to write about coyotes for this blog post, I had no idea how strongly people felt about them or how prolific they have become on the East Coast. Whether on Cape Cod or in the Boston area, the presence of coyotes in people’s suburban backyards elicits either awe or outright hatred – and rarely indifference. I am […]
Archive for the ‘Fauna’ Category
Catastrophe, or Cause for Celebration: Coyotes on Cape Cod
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Interesting on February 8, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Squirrelly stats
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Interesting on February 5, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Today I ask the question: why is it that we see a predominance of the gray squirrel over the red squirrel here on Cape Cod. Gray squirrels are, like rats and pigeons, the type of creature you are more likely to see in urban or suburban areas; they have been able to adjust to locales where […]
Dead, or alive after all? – The big surprise surrounding the great white’s capture.
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on January 29, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I just read an article in the online version of the Cape Cod Times: Great white’s capture big surprise | CapeCodOnline.com. (no longer available at this time) about a shark found dead/ What was it doing here in the winter? I had written about this shark earlier this month. At the time some were of […]
Vulture Culture
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Interesting on January 29, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I was watching the Weather Channel at a local bar last night and saw an unusual sight, 3 black vultures videoptaped in New Jersey holding their wings out as if they were frozen; the caption on the screen read “Frozen Vultures in New Jerseyâ€. Alarmed by the thought that they had not migrated where they […]
Welcoming a new visitor
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on January 14, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Certhia americana – the brown creeper – may be a familiar visitor to your garden or your feeder, but I’ve never observed one until today. We get the usual crowd any given day feasting on the suet I provide in the winter: woodpeckers – downies, hairies and red-breasted (females), white-breasted nuthatch, northern flicker (mostly females), […]
Oh deer
Posted in Fauna, Interesting, Rants & Raves on January 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Deer have come up a few times recently. Everyone is complaining about how there are too many deer on Cape Cod. I’ve only seen them sporadically around 6A. Saw a buck once in Nickerson state park a few years back. I never felt like we’re being overrun by them – I tend to think there […]
December Jaws
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on January 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A shark off Chatham, in the midst of winter? Strange. A great white, you say? Impossible! I heard it at a bar first, so my initial thought was this had to be a rumor, and definitely untrue. However, the source – Jim, does not usually make up fish stories. He is serious when it comes […]
Anticipating the catch
Posted in Edible, Fauna, Recipe on December 20, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I guess there is no better way to jinx oneself: Talking about what to do with the catch before the fishing trip even starts. I should know better, since my only fishing outing to date, a few weeks ago, merely produced some tentative nibbles from who-knows-what and one Perca flavescens (yellow perch). While the perch […]
Lost and stranded – the pitfalls of overstaying one’s welcome
Posted in Fauna, Interesting on December 6, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Another unusual visitor to our shores. And another unfortunate victim of the Cape’s geography. This 8-foot ocean sunfish (Mola mola) was found on a Brewster beach on December 5th, 2010. Photograph courtesy of New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance (NECWA) Just as we are seeing with turtles, other sea creatures such as this ocean sunfish are […]